1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a game device and, more particularly, to a game device individually assigned with a particular identification number, to a game system including such game device, and to an image display method used therein. This invention also relates to a computer-readable storage medium storing a program used in a game device and a game system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, many video game devices of various types for commercial and domestic use have been developed and sold. Home video game devices include non-portable game devices for playing games using a home television apparatus, and portable game devices for playing games apart from a home television apparatus, and these non-portable and portable game devices are widely used by an enormous number of users. Moreover, a large number of game software applications for such game devices have been devised and marketed.
Under the circumstances, the present applicants, and others, have previously proposed a portable game device and a storage medium for playing a card game (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (JP-A) No. 2000-157744). In this card game, many different types of cards, each having a different capability index and a different function, are selected by the player, and these cards appear at a prescribed playing area defined on the screen of a portable game device and are compared with cards laid by an opponent (the opponent may be a computer in the game device). The victory in the game is determined on the relative strengths of the cards. In this card game, various means are adopted to engage the player""s interest in the card game.
However, in order to retain the player""s interest and to entertain a greater number of users, it is necessary to make the card game more interesting. Moreover, it will be understood that, if the player""s interest is attracted to other factors than the card game itself, the demand for the card game will increase further.
In some of the game devices of the type described, an identification code (for example, an identification number,) as identification data is assigned to each individual device to identify the individual game device. This identification data is intended to be used in product management. Actually, portable game devices assigned with individual identification data are already available on the market. Furthermore, such identification data is often assigned to various electronic products, such as the central processing unit of a computer, or the like. In any event, the identification data assigned by a manufacturer to the game device for the purpose of product management is determined without any regard to the game program or the application program to be executed in the game device.
Under the circumstances described above, consideration has currently been directed only to the idea of using the identification numbers assigned to game devices in order to individually identify the game devices or the electronic products. However, no consideration is made at all about using identification data for any purpose other than product management. More particularly, in the previously submitted application, there was no idea of using identification data to enhance the interest generated by the card game.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a game device which increases the interest generated by a game, by utilizing a game device to which identification data has been assigned and by relating said identification data to the game.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a game device which utilizes identification data and which is applied to a card game and is able to make a card game more interesting.
It is a yet further object of the present invention to provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a program whereby the aforementioned identification data can be accessed and new functions can be appended to this identification data.
It is a yet further object of the present invention to provide a game system capable of directing the player""s or user""s interest in factors other than a game itself.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an image display method for displaying images which cannot be displayed by a game device main unit alone, by utilizing identification data.
It is a more general object of the present invention to provide an electronic processing device in which functions other than a product identification function are assigned to identification data.
According to one aspect of this invention, there is provided a game device for implementing a game in accordance with a predetermined program, the game device being provided with input means for inputting input signals while inherent identification data is assigned to each individual game device, the game device comprising identification data storage means for storing the inherent identification data; and input signal processing means, responsive to a specific input signal given from the input means, for generating at least one of an event and an item determined by a relationship between the input signal and the inherent identification data by the use of the inherent identification data. With this structure, in case where the game device is for a card game, a specific card determined by the input signal and the identification data can be generated as the aforementioned items. Thus, the game device including the specific card unique to the game device can be implemented.
The input signal processing means comprises judging means, responsive to said input signal, for judging whether or not the relationship between the input signal and the identification data has a predetermined relationship after the inherent identification data is read out of the identification data storage means; and generating means for generating the at least one of an event and an item, when the relationship between the input signal and the identification data has the predetermined relationship.
The judging means may comprise comparing and detecting means for comparing the input signal with the identification data to detect a match or a non-match therebetween as the predetermined relationship, and means for driving the generating means on detection of the match.
The judging means may comprise converting means for carrying out conversion of at least one of said input signal and said identification data. If the input signal or the converted signal and the identification data or the converted data respectively represent numbers consisting of a plurality of digits, the match between the two numbers is detected sequentially from a numeral at the lowest digit to obtain the number of matching digits. The specific card is generated in dependence upon the number of the matching digits. It is thus possible to determine the specific card to be obtained in a lottery manner and to lead the player""s interest to collection of the cards.
According to another aspect of this invention, there is provided a game system comprising a game device main unit for executing a game in accordance with a predetermined program, when a storage medium storing a predetermined program is mounted onto the game device main unit, and a memory card device for carrying out communication with the game device main unit, each memory card device being assigned with an inherent identification code which differs from that of any other memory card device, as identification data, wherein the memory card device comprises a program memory for storing a program section which forms a part of the predetermined program and which is accessible to the inherent identification data; password input means for inputting a password as an input signal to the memory card device; and detecting means for detecting the relationship between the input signal and the inherent identification data, under the control of the program section, to reflect the results of the detection step in the game which is being executed by the game device main unit. In case where the game system is for a card game similar to that described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-157744, it is possible to generate a specific card which is unique to the memory card device and which cannot be generated by the game device main unit alone. Thus, the interest of a player can be directed not only to the card game itself but also to the act of collecting cards.
According to still another aspect of this invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium which stores a card game program and which is for use in a game device comprising input means for inputting input signals and means for storing inherent identification data, wherein the program comprises the steps of detecting that a specific input signal is input from the input means; and generating specific cards determined by the relationship between the input signal and the inherent identification data. In this manner, the cards, which can not be obtained in a normal game, are generated by the use of the identification data to achieve a lottery-like effect.
According to yet another aspect of this invention, there is provided an electronic processing device for use in executing electronic processing according to a program, the electronic processing device having inherent identification data assigned individually to each such electronic processing device, wherein the inherent identification data is accessed by the program in response to an input signal and a relationship between the input signal and the inherent identification data is used to generate, in a lottery style, events peculiar to the electronic processing device and to produce an item dependent on the inherent identification data on a probability basis.
According to a further aspect of this invention, there is provided an image display method used in a system comprising a main device having a display device for displaying images, input means for inputting input signals, display means for displaying the input signals, and a subsidiary device capable of communicating with the main device, the subsidiary device having inherent identification data assigned individually thereto, wherein the subsidiary device performs a step of comparing the input signal with the identification data, and a step of instructing that a prescribed image corresponding to the results of the comparison displayed by the display means; and the main device implementing a step of displaying the particular image on the display device of the main device in accordance with the instruction from the subsidiary device, so as to display the prescribed image which cannot be displayed by means of the main device alone.